Curve (band)
Encyclopedia
Curve was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 music group formed in 1990 chiefly around the collaboration of singer/songwriter Toni Halliday
Toni Halliday
Antoinette "Toni" Halliday is an English musician best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and occasional guitarist of the band Curve.-Early life and career:...

 and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist/guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist/programmer Dean Garcia.

History

Halliday and Garcia were introduced to each other by fellow musician Dave Stewart
David A. Stewart
David Allan Stewart , often known as Dave Stewart, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is usually credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with other musicians named "Dave Stewart".-Early life:Stewart was born in Sunderland,...

 of Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...

; Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983–84 and on two of their studio albums; while Halliday was signed to Stewart's Anxious Records
Anxious Records
Anxious Records was a record label set up by David A. Stewart of Eurythmics.Besides distributing his own records, the label distributed also groups like Londonbeat and Soft Parade.-Anxious Records:Anxious Records signed the following acts:* Chris Braide...

 label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play  in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve.

As Curve, Halliday and Garcia released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs throughout 1991 on Anxious Records, and made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut LP Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger (Curve album)
Doppelgänger is the 1992 debut album by the British band Curve. A continuation of the musical idiom established by the group on its three earlier EPs, the record combines elements of dance music and alternative rock with the reverb- and distortion-heavy stylings of "shoegazing".-Track listing:All...

. The group also toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith
Debbie Smith (musician)
Debbie Smith is a British guitar and bass player who has been in several bands from the 1990s to the present, including Curve, Echobelly, Nightnurse, Snowpony, Bows, The Nuns , and SPC ECO .Smith was interviewed for the book Never Mind the Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock by...

, later of Echobelly
Echobelly
Echobelly were a Britpop band, debuting in 1994 with their album Everyone's Got One. They were often compared to Blondie and were influenced by Morrissey, who himself was a fan of the group....

, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly of Ian Dury
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...

 and the Blockheads). Highlights of Curve's live career included a performance at the 1992 Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...

, and a package tour of the United States with the Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...

 and Spiritualized
Spiritualized
Spiritualized are an English space rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Jason Pierce after the demise of his previous outfit, space-rockers Spacemen 3...

.

Curve's second LP, the harder-edged Cuckoo
Cuckoo (Curve album)
Cuckoo was the second all-new studio album to be released by the British band Curve.The album - a musically more varied but significantly darker release than Curve's debut, Doppelgänger - performed poorly in the UK charts compared to the band's first LP, and its relative commercial failure is...

(1993), did not repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That coupled with the stressfulness of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision, in 1994, to disband the group.

Curve returned to the music business in 1996 with the EP Pink Girl With the Blues; the following year, they released "Chinese Burn", the first single to be taken from their third all-new album Come Clean (1998). That LP, a set of songs displaying a more pronounced influence of electronic music than earlier releases, was met with a certain amount of acclaim and commercial success, which encouraged the group to continue their recording career. They continued to do small-scale live shows in and around Europe.

The follow-up to Come Clean was an Internet-only collection titled Open Day at the Hate Fest
Open Day at the Hate Fest
Open Day at the Hate Fest is an album-length, internet-released compilation of music recorded by Curve since their reformation in 1996.Open Day at the Hate Fest was produced during a time that saw Curve embroiled in legal battles with Universal Records over the company's decision to shelve Gift,...

; it was quickly followed by the all-new Gift
Gift (Curve album)
Gift was the fourth all-new studio album to be released by the British band Curve.Following two years of legal wrangles between the group and their then record company, Universal Records, the online success of Curve's self-released album Open Day at the Hate Fest convinced Universal - who had been...

(both 2001). During this period, Curve were almost as prolific as during their first three years, releasing another web-only, LP-length collection (The New Adventures of Curve
The New Adventures of Curve
The New Adventures of Curve is the fifth and final studio album released by the British band Curve.The LP was exclusively available via the group's official website...

) in 2002, and various download-only tracks via their official website.

A two-CD retrospective entitled The Way of Curve
The Way of Curve
The Way of Curve is a compilation album by Curve.The album consists of two discs: the first is basically a greatest hits disc, containing many of Curve's most famous and successful songs; the second contains rare tracks, including one that had never been released...

summarised the group's output in 2004, before Halliday announced, in early 2005, that she had left Curve for good.

Music

For the most part, Curve's music was typified by heavy beats and densely-layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's sometimes airy, sometimes intense vocalizations of lyrics that frequently explored topics such as alienation, addiction, lust, romance, and love on the wane. While the band's early releases were either lumped in, by certain British music reviewers, with the then-popular shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...

 style of guitar-based rock music, or said to borrow heavily from Gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...

, their second LP Cuckoo was noted to feature a broader set of influences, such as industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

 and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

. On Come Clean, and the records that followed, the electronic portions of the band's music became more prominent - to the extent of some recordings from the final years featuring hardly any guitar sounds. Perhaps also as a result of this development, fans of the group are divided as to which Curve release is the most satisfying.

Legacy

With regard to the group's significance to the development of 'alternative' rock and pop music, it has been claimed by both Curve aficionados and music writers that British/American alternative band Garbage
Garbage (band)
Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...

 appropriated large portions of Curve's musical template, and constructed from it more 'mainstream' material, albeit with a certain 'edge' remaining. Toni Halliday has occasionally commented on the comparisons between both groups, stating at one point - in an interview conducted by Volume magazine
Volume magazine
Volume was a magazine in the form of a series of compact disc compilation albums that were published in the UK in the early to mid 1990s. The albums typically contained exclusive tracks and remixes from a diverse range of indie artists. Each album was packaged with a 192-page booklet that contained...

 in 1996 - that she could "see bits of Garbage in what we've done, just like we see bits of Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

 or the Valentines or really any band that was doing something supposedly outside the norm. In a way it's very flattering to be tied in with [Garbage drummer and co-producer] Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....

, not just because he's a brilliant human being, but because he's a brilliant producer, and he's worked on some of our favourite records. But eventually Garbage are a pop band, and Curve were never a pop band."

Halliday has, on other occasions, also offered contrasting opinions. Interviewed by Cosmic Debris Magazine in 2001, she reminisced on how "[Curve had] put records out and we always thought they were nice little pop albums full of nice little pop songs. I've always thought that Curve have made great pop. It might come in a different guise to what people presume is pop, you know, like... it doesn't sound like Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

 pop, but still, there's melody there, and there are hooks, and we've done that on every record we've ever made. [...] We've been called 'goth' in England, and we've been called 'noise merchants' and the whole gamut of labels, but not once have we been called a pop band, and I'd really like to be called that."

Dean Garcia

Dean Garcia is currently a member of the bands SPC ECO
SPC ECO
SPC ECO are a British-American shoegazing band, formed in 2007. The band consists of former Curve member Dean Garcia , Rose Berlin and Joey Levenson . When performing live, the band consists of Garcia on bass, Berlin on vocals, HKG on guitar, Debbie Smith on guitar and Monti on drums...

 (with his daughter Rose Berlin and Joey Levenson; 2007–present), "The Black Holes" (with Jo Neale; 2007–present), "The Chronologic" (2006–present), Inkraktare (with Mark Wallbridge aka Vasko The Pig; 2009–present), "The Secret Meeting" (with kaRIN and Statik of Collide; 2007–present), KGC (with Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko , also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and producer. He is the founder, frontman, and "anchor" of industrial rock band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the father of industrial rock...

 and Lucia Cifarelli
Lucia Cifarelli
Lucia Cifarelli is currently a vocalist and occasional keyboardist for industrial music group KMFDM...

 of KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...

; 2006–present) and Morpheme (2010–present). In February 2009, SPC ECO released their first album, 3-D
3-D (SPC ECO album)
3-D is the debut album by SPC ECO, originally released in 2009, and re-released on January 1, 2010.-Track listing:- Personnel :*SPC ECO – Performer, Engineer, Producer, Writer...

, through their website and via Collide's label Noiseplus Music. Garcia's newest project Morpheme is a collaboration with Perry Pelonero (Clenched Fist, Skylight, Bliss City East), and Kim Welsh (Skylight, Bliss City East). On December 8, 2010, Morpheme released their first track, Infection and on May 5, 2011, they released their second track, Stratosphere on their debut single Infection. Garcia has also released a solo album on January 1, 2011, entitled How Do You Feel?, with special guests Vasko The Pig, Todd Astromass and Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

. In June 2011, Garcia signed with XD Records.

Toni Halliday

On February 27, 2008 Halliday introduced a new solo project called Chatelaine on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

. A number of tracks could be previewed, and were credited to Halliday/Dowd/Salmon, and its MySpace blog declared that a new album was being worked on.
Chatelaine's debut album Take A Line For A Walk was released in June 16, 2010. It featured nine new tracks: "Broken Bones", "Oh Daddy", "Life Remains", "Stripped Out", "Shifting Sands", "Killing Feeling", "Take A Line For A Walk", "Head To Head" and "Seen And Lost".

Studio albums

  • Doppelgänger
    Doppelgänger (Curve album)
    Doppelgänger is the 1992 debut album by the British band Curve. A continuation of the musical idiom established by the group on its three earlier EPs, the record combines elements of dance music and alternative rock with the reverb- and distortion-heavy stylings of "shoegazing".-Track listing:All...

    (1992) UK #11
  • Cuckoo (1993) UK #29
  • Come Clean (1998) UK #103
  • Gift
    Gift (Curve album)
    Gift was the fourth all-new studio album to be released by the British band Curve.Following two years of legal wrangles between the group and their then record company, Universal Records, the online success of Curve's self-released album Open Day at the Hate Fest convinced Universal - who had been...

    (2001)
  • The New Adventures of Curve
    The New Adventures of Curve
    The New Adventures of Curve is the fifth and final studio album released by the British band Curve.The LP was exclusively available via the group's official website...

    (2002; Internet-only release)

Compilations

  • Pubic Fruit
    Pubic Fruit
    Pubic Fruit is a compilation album by Curve, containing the band's first three EPs and an extended mix of 'Faît Accompli'.Curve released three critically acclaimed and increasingly successful EPs, The Blindfold EP, The Frozen EP and The Cherry EP, in the UK throughout 1991...

    (1992)
  • Radio Sessions
    Radio Sessions
    Radio Sessions is a compilation album of recordings made by the British band Curve during their two sessions for John Peel's show on the UK broadcasting station Radio 1.-Track listing:#"Ten Little Girls" - 4:42#"No Escape From Heaven" - 4:47...

    (1993)
  • Open Day at the Hate Fest
    Open Day at the Hate Fest
    Open Day at the Hate Fest is an album-length, internet-released compilation of music recorded by Curve since their reformation in 1996.Open Day at the Hate Fest was produced during a time that saw Curve embroiled in legal battles with Universal Records over the company's decision to shelve Gift,...

    (2001; Internet-only release)
  • The Way of Curve
    The Way of Curve
    The Way of Curve is a compilation album by Curve.The album consists of two discs: the first is basically a greatest hits disc, containing many of Curve's most famous and successful songs; the second contains rare tracks, including one that had never been released...

    (2004) UK #197

EPs and singles

  • Blindfold (1991) UK #68: "Ten Little Girls" (featuring JC-001)/"I Speak Your Every Word"/"Blindfold"/"No Escape From Heaven"
  • Frozen (1991) UK #34: "Coast Is Clear"/"The Colour Hurts"/"Frozen"/"Zoo"
  • Cherry (1991) UK #36: "Clipped"/"Die Like a Dog"/"Galaxy"/"Cherry"; 10" vinyl also includes "I Speak Your Every Word" (featuring JC-001)
  • Faît Accompli (1992) UK #22: "Faît Accompli" (single version)/"Arms Out"/"Sigh" (CD & 12" vinyl); "Faît Accompli" (extended mix)/"Coast Is Clear" (live)/"Die Like a Dog" (live) (12" vinyl)
  • Horror Head
    Horror Head
    "Horror Head" is Curve's single released on 6 July 1992, and the second single from the album Doppelgänger. It is one of their most popular songs. It reached #31 in the UK singles chart.-Music video:...

    (1992) UK #31: "Horror Head" (remix)/"Falling Free"/"Mission From God"/"Today Is Not the Day"
  • Blackerthreetracker (1993) UK #39: "Missing Link" (single version)/"On the Wheel"/"Triumph"
  • Blackerthreetrackertwo (1993): "Missing Link" (screaming bird mix)/"Rising" (headspace mix)/"Half the Time" (honey tongue mix)
  • Superblaster (1993): "Superblaster" (remix)/"Low and Behold"/"Nothing Without Me"
  • Pink Girl With the Blues (1996) UK #97: "Pink Girl With the Blues"/"Recovery"/"Black Delilah"
  • Chinese Burn
    Chinese Burn (song)
    "Chinese Burn" is a single by Curve taken from their third album Come Clean. It was released on December 1, 1997.The song is track 1 on Come Clean....

    (1997): CDs and 12" vinyl include a set of remixes by Paul van Dyk
    Paul van Dyk
    Matthias Paul, better known by his stage name Paul van Dyk is a German Grammy Award-winning Electronic Dance Music DJ, musician and record producer...

    , Steve Osborne
    Steve Osborne
    Steve Osborne is a multi-platinum selling British record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, such as New Order, Doves, U2 and KT Tunstall. During the 1990s, Osborne was half of the Perfecto Records team, a production and remix collaboration with Paul Oakenfold; the artists...

    , Lunatic Calm
    Lunatic Calm
    Lunatic Calm were a UK-based electronic music group formed in 1996. Despite a wide-ranging sound palette, the group was best known for their high impact, industrial-tinged big beat compositions.-History:...

    , Witchman
    Witchman
    "Witchman" redirects here. For the religious act, see Exorcist.John Roome is a hip hop/breaks artist who has worked with The Orb and The Jungle Brothers....

    , and Headcase, as well as "Robbing Charity" and "Come Clean".
  • Coming up Roses (1998) UK #51: CDs and 12" vinyl include a set of remixes by Jeremy Wheatley, Talvin Singh
    Talvin Singh
    Talvin Singh Matharoo , is a producer and composer and tabla player, known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass...

    , Blue Amazon, Danny Saber
    Danny Saber
    Danny Saber is a Los Angeles, California musician, audio engineer, record producer, and remixer. A former member of Black Grape and Agent Provocateur, Saber plays guitar, bass, organ, and keyboards, and is also a prominent Los Angeles DJ....

    , and Kevin Shields
    Kevin Shields
    Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born, Irish vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine....

    , as well as "Midnight & Royal" and "Habit".
  • Perish (2002) UK #168: "Perish"/"Want More Need Less"/"Recovery" (2002 version)
  • Want More Need Less (2003): "Want More Need Less"/"My Tiled White Floor"/"Bleeding Heart"

Guest appearances

  • Peace Together
    Peace Together
    Peace Together was a 20 July 1993 fundraiser compilation album released by the Peace Together organisation, dedicated to promoting peace in Northern Ireland, which was started by Robert Hamilton, of The Fat Lady Sings, and Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers.Tracks 1 and 13 feature contributions...

    (1993) - performed "What a Waste" with Ian Dury (with benefits to the Youth of Northern Ireland)
  • Guest producers on Gary Numan
    Gary Numan
    Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

    's remix album Hybrid in 2003
  • Released a track for Frequency (a music-based puzzle game on PlayStation 2) called "Worst Mistake", not released on CD.
  • Remixed the single "Just Say Yes" for the Cure
    The Cure
    The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...

     in 2001, which was released officially in 2004 on the boxset Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)
    Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)
    Join the Dots: B-sides & Rarities is a box set of The Cure, released on January 27, 2004 by their former record label Fiction. . This box set is a four-disc compilation of B-sides and rarities, digitally remastered from their original tapes...

  • Contributed 4 tracks (A666, Bishi Bashi, Mash Head, Push The Button) for the online game Darkwind: War on Wheels
    Darkwind: War on Wheels
    Darkwind: War on Wheels is an independently developed 3D turn based racing and vehicle combat massively multiplayer online game for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux...

    , 2006
  • The Capcom
    Capcom
    is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...

     game MotoGP 09/10
    MotoGP 09/10
    MotoGP 09/10 Racing For The Victory is Capcom's second game, as a single publisher, using the rights to develop video games for the MotoGP series. It is only available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3...

    includes an instrumental version of "Want More Need Less".

External links

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